--- title: "Calendar problems and how to fix them" description: "Doors that won't open or open on the wrong day, time zones, testing future days, missed days, prizes per door, editing a live calendar, running out of codes and other common calendar issues." url: https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-troubleshooting language: en --- 1. [Help center](https://scratcher.io/help) 2. [Games and formats](https://scratcher.io/help/games) 3. Calendar problems and how to fix them # Calendar problems and how to fix them Doors that won't open or open on the wrong day, time zones, testing future days, missed days, prizes per door, editing a live calendar, running out of codes and other common calendar issues. Most calendar problems come from dates, time zones or participation limits. Go through this list before you contact support. ## Check your calendar before launch 1. Check the **Period** (or each door's dates) and the year. 2. Check the campaign's **Timezone** under **Settings** > **Localization**. 3. Check the campaign's start and end date in the publish settings. They must cover all doors. 4. With the advanced calendar, open every day in the **Calendar: Day** dropdown and check that it has a page. 5. Open **Preview**, pick each date in the toolbar and play the day. 6. Check the participation limit and the prizes (and that there are enough codes). ## No door opens - **The dates are in the past or in another year.** This happens when you copy last year's campaign or use an older template. Set the new dates on the calendar's **Content** tab. - **The campaign hasn't started or has ended.** The campaign's start and end date decide whether people can play at all. Make them cover the calendar's period. - **Today has no door.** If the period hasn't started, is over, or has a gap (with **Individual dates on doors**), no door is active. On those days, even past doors can't be opened. - **Today's door is turned off.** With **Individual dates on doors**, check that the door's **Enabled** switch is on. - **The calendar has more than 30 doors.** Only 30 doors are shown. Make the period shorter. ## A door opens on the wrong day or at the wrong time - **Time zone:** a new door opens at midnight in the campaign's time zone, not in the visitor's time zone. A campaign set to Copenhagen time opens the next door at midnight in Copenhagen, which is 6 pm the day before in New York. Set the right **Timezone** under **Settings** > **Localization**. For campaigns across time zones, consider one campaign per language and time zone. - **Individual dates:** with **Individual dates on doors**, a door opens and closes at the times you set. Check the times, not just the dates. - **Advent calendar:** each door is open for its whole period, normally a week from Sunday to Saturday. - **Randomize door order** only changes where doors are on the page. Door 7 still opens on day 7, wherever it is shown. - **The number on the door looks wrong:** in the Christmas calendar and the calendar, the number is the day of the month. A calendar from 28 March to 8 April shows 28, 29, 30, 31, 1, 2 … Use **Hide numbers on doors** and images with your own numbers, if you want 1 to 12. ## I want to test a future day You can't open future doors in the live campaign. Use the preview: 1. Click the link button in the top bar, choose **Preview** and open the preview link. 2. Choose the day's date in the date list in the preview toolbar. 3. Open the door. In the preview, every day can be opened. See [Preview and test your campaign](https://scratcher.io/help/campaigns/preview-and-test). ## People can't open yesterday's door That is the default: only today's door opens. Turn on **Allow clicking past days** to let people catch up. Doors for coming days stay shut. If people can open past doors but still can't play, check the participation limit: - With **Once**, people can only take part one time in the whole campaign, so they can only play one door. Choose **Daily** for a calendar. - With **Daily**, the limit counts plays per day, not per door. Someone who already played today's door can't also catch up on yesterday's door today, unless you raise the **Number of times you can participate per day**. See [Limit how often people can play](https://scratcher.io/help/forms/limit-participation). ## Clicking a door does nothing - It isn't today's door. Only the active door (and, if allowed, past doors) can be opened. - With the advanced calendar, the day has no page. Choose the day in the **Calendar: Day** dropdown, build the page and click **Update**. ## The wrong prize is behind a door - With the advanced calendar, open the day in the **Calendar: Day** dropdown, click the game and check its prizes. Copied days need their prizes checked. - With one shared game, check each prize's **Active period**. **On campaign day** counts from the campaign's start date, not from the first door. If the campaign starts on 25 November and the first door is 1 December, campaign day 1 is 25 November. - Prize schedules are checked every hour, so a change can take up to an hour to apply. ## A prize runs out or codes are used up A prize can't be won when it is sold out or its unique codes have run out. Then people get the "no win" result. Upload more codes or raise the quantity on the prize. To spread a prize over all days, use **Reset amount** daily. See [Discount codes](https://scratcher.io/help/prizes/discount-codes) and [Prize schedules, prize pools and other prize add-ons](https://scratcher.io/help/prizes/prize-schedules-and-pools). ## Editing a calendar that is already live - You can change texts, images and prizes at any time. Click **Update** to publish. - Don't change the **Period** while the calendar is live. With the advanced calendar, days are stored by number, so moving dates moves content to other dates, and making the period shorter deletes day pages. - Turning off the **Advanced calendar** add-on deletes all day pages. - Changes to a future day are safe: nobody can see it yet. ## Phones show only one door, or no door **Only show active doors on mobile** is on. Phones then show only today's door, and no door on days without one. Turn it off to show the full calendar on phones. ## Calendar completion shows no numbers **Calendar completion** on the campaign **Dashboard** is only for calendars with the **Advanced calendar** add-on. It counts how many visitors opened each door. Games and formats - [Which game should I choose?](https://scratcher.io/help/games/game-formats-overview) - [Scratch cards, wheels and other luck games](https://scratcher.io/help/games/luck-games) - [Spin the wheel: slices, design and settings](https://scratcher.io/help/games/spin-the-wheel) - [Scratch cards: cards, icons and cover](https://scratcher.io/help/games/scratch-cards) - [Slot machine, spin, dice and mystery box](https://scratcher.io/help/games/slot-spin-dice-and-mystery-box) - [Skill games: drop, memory, puzzle and more](https://scratcher.io/help/games/skill-games) - [Catch objects (drop) and hit the target](https://scratcher.io/help/games/catch-drop-and-hit-the-target) - [Smash it, tap it, memory, puzzle, match matrix and bubble shooter](https://scratcher.io/help/games/more-skill-games) - [Finish conditions, timer and points in skill games](https://scratcher.io/help/games/finish-conditions-timer-and-points) - [Quizzes and personality tests](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quizzes-and-personality-tests) - [Quiz questions and answers in detail](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-questions-and-answers) - [Quiz results, branching and calculations](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-results-groups-and-calculator) - [Design your quiz: layout, progress bar and buttons](https://scratcher.io/help/games/quiz-design) - [Polls, surveys, votes and product finders](https://scratcher.io/help/games/polls-surveys-and-product-finders) - [Advent and Christmas calendars: set one up step by step](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advent-and-christmas-calendars) - [Every calendar setting explained](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-settings) - [The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advanced-calendar) - [Calendar problems and how to fix them](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-troubleshooting) - [Leaderboards: rank players by points or time](https://scratcher.io/help/games/leaderboards-and-predictions) - [Score predictions for football and other sports](https://scratcher.io/help/games/score-predictions) - [Lucky number: let people enter a code to win](https://scratcher.io/help/games/lucky-number-codes) - [Countdowns, pre-registration and campaign ended pages](https://scratcher.io/help/games/special-pages) ## Related articles - [Advent and Christmas calendars: set one up step by step](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advent-and-christmas-calendars): Choose between the Christmas calendar, advent calendar and free calendar, set the dates, design the doors, put a game and a prize behind each door and test every day before you go live. - [Every calendar setting explained](https://scratcher.io/help/games/calendar-settings): A complete reference for the calendar element: the period, doors and labels, doors per row, navigation, door styles, past and active doors, mobile, randomizing, numbers and individual dates. - [The advanced calendar: a different game or prize behind every door](https://scratcher.io/help/games/advanced-calendar): Turn on the advanced calendar, build a page for every day, copy days, override shared pages for one day, give each day its own prizes and use an interactive graphic as a calendar. ## Still need help? Real people are here to help. If you already use Scratcher, the quickest way is the chat inside the platform. - **[Chat with us](https://platform.scratcher.io/login)** Log in and click the chat button in the bottom-right corner. Rex answers right away, and our team is a click away. - **[Book a meeting](https://scratcher.io/book-a-meeting)** A free 30-minute video call with our team: a tour, campaign ideas or help with your setup. - **[Email us](mailto:contact@scratcher.io)** Write to contact@scratcher.io and we will get back to you.